THE HISTORY OF

FROM
POPE LEO XIII
TO
POPE FRANCIS
SOCIAL DOCTRINE: Right and Duty of the CHURCH
The Church has the right to be a teacher for mankind, a
teacher of the truth of faith: the truth not only of dogmas
but also of the morals whose source lies in human nature
itself and in the Gospel.
The Church's social doctrine is not a privilege for her, nor a
digression, a convenience or interference: it is her right to
proclaim the Gospel in the context of society, to make the
liberating word of the Gospel resound in the complex worlds
of production, labor, business, finance, trade, politics, law,
culture, social communications, where men and women live.
This right of the Church is at the same time a duty, because
she cannot forsake this responsibility without denying
herself and her fidelity to Christ: “Woe to me if I do not
preach the Gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16). Because of the public
relevance of the Gospel and faith, because of the corrupting
effects of injustice, that is, of sin, the Church cannot remain
indifferent to social matter.
Compendium 70-71
 • ENCYCLICAL – A letter written by the
Pope addressed to all the Bishops of the
world or, in some instances, to the all the
bishops of a particular country/territory.
What is a • SOCIAL ENCYCLICAL – A Papal Encyclical
SOCIAL that addresses social justice issues; are
“applications of the Word of God to
ENCYCLICAL? people’s lives and society by providing
principles for reflection, criteria for
judgment and directives for action.
(Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, John Paul II)
• An instrument for the moral and pastoral
discernment of the complex events that
mark our time (Compendium, 10)
• The Church does not offer specific
technical solutions, but rather moral
principles to inform the building of such
solutions. (Caritas in Veritate, Benedict XVI)
• N.B. Not all the universally recognized
Social Doctrines are encylicals. Some are
Apostolic Exhortations – written to
encourage a group of people to engage in
an activity without teaching new doctrine.
On the Condition Pope Leo XIII
of Labor

May 15, 1891

RERUM
NOVARUM - Exploitation of poor industrial
“New Things” workers
- Rise of socialist movements

- Rights and duties of workers and

employers, citizens and state
- Supported the rights of labor to form
unions, rejected socialism and
unrestricted capitalism, while
affirming the right to private property.
Reconstruction
of the Social Pope Pius XI
Order
May 15, 1931

QUARAGESIMO
ANNO - Great Depression – many nations
economically devastated, some
“In the 40th Year” allowing people to die
- Growth of systematic atheism
and the modernist crisis

- Condemns the effect of greed and

concentrated political and economic
power
- introduced the concept of
“Social Justice” and “Subsidiarity”
Christianity and
Pope John XXIII
Social Progress

May 15, 1961

MATER
ET MAGISTRA - Communism was still viewed as a
threat
“Mother and Teacher” - International inequalities result
to poorer nations

- Common good is “balance” in society

- Special concern for agricultural
workers
- international assistance to poor
nations is required by “justice and
humanity”
Peace on Earth Pope John XXIII

April 11, 1963

- Threat of Nuclear War

PACEM - Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile
IN TERRIS Crisis
- Civil Rights movement exposing
division of race

- Addressed to ‘all people of goodwill’

- Human rights is basis for peace
- Condemns the arms race and racism
- Advocates resources to be shared in
the common endeavor for
development.
Pastoral
Second Vatican Council Fathers
Constitution of the
Church in the
Modern World December 7, 1965

GAUDIUM - The need for the Church for

“updating” by reading the
ET SPES “signs of the times” and finding new
“The Joys and Hopes” ways to be relevant in the world

- Importance of stable families for a

stable society
- Supports agrarian reform and calls for
change in economic structures
- Church commits to take a prophetic
stand against those who hold power
Paul VI described himself as a humble servant for a suffering humanity and demanded significant changes from
the rich in North America and Europe in favor of the poor in the Third World.
On the
Pope Paul VI
Development
of Peoples
March 26, 1967

POPULORUM - Paul VI traveled widely

PROGRESSIO - global poverty now comes to
proximity because of television
broadcast

- Poverty in the Third World requires

integral human development
- The new name of peace is
development
- Poverty does not just come from
purely natural causes but injustice
A Call to Action
Pope Paul VI

May 14, 1971

OCTOGESIMA
ADVENIENS The South American bishops had met at
“The 80th Anniversary” Medellin three years earlier and their themes
Apostolic Exhortation of structural injustice, the option for the poor,
conscientization and liberation permeate the
thinking in this document.

- Local Churches should involve themselves in

building a just world by analyzing their own
realities and devising responses in light of the
Gospel.
- Preferential respect for the poor is required by
their special situation in society
- Calls for political response to economic injustice
Justice in the
1971 World Synod of Catholic Bishops
World

1971

JUSTITIA IN Advancement in technology

MUNDO Migration
Arms Race
Racial and Class Divisions
Concentration of the World’s Wealth

- Action in the pursuit of justice, and partici-

pation in the transformation of the world are
constitutive elements in the Church’s mission of
preaching the Gospel.
- Christian social morality cannot proceed in
isolation from the Gospel, grace and redemption
- The Church must witness to justice in its own life
in order to be credible when calling for justice in
the world.
Evangelization
in the Modern Pope Paul VI
World
December 9, 1975
EVANGELII
NUNTIANDI 10th Anniversary of the Closing of Vatican II
1974 Synod of Bishops seemed unable to
“In Proclaiming the Gospel”
clearly define evangelization
Apostolic Exhortation
Liberation theology and Marxist analysis
added to confusion

- the Church’s commitment to human promotion

and social justice are incorporated into the
overall task of evangelization
- evangelization in a broad sense includes not only
the first proclamation of the Gospel that leads
individuals to conversion and baptism, but also
the task of inaugurating the Kingdom of God in
concrete historical situations
On Human Work
Pope John Paul II

September 14, 1981

LABOREM
EXERCENS • Technological developments bring forth negative
consequences similar to industrial revolution of the
“Through Work” previous century
• Scarcity of natural resources, especially oil, was
becoming apparent
• John Paul supported the Solidarity movement in Poland.

- work is more than just an activity or a

commodity, but an essential part of human
nature; not a consequence of sin but given to
man at the moment of creation
- technology as a great benefit, provided it is
regarded as a tool and not as a master
- Man is the subject of work. People are more
important than things.
The Social
Concern of Pope John Paul II
the Church
December 30, 1987

SOLLICITUDO
REI SOCIALIS • Failed development of the Third World and
increasing economic gap resulting from
turbo-capitalism
• Continuation of the “Cold War”
• Severe recession in the mid 80’s

- Progress and development do not necessarily

coincide
- true development cannot be limited to the
multiplication of goods and services, but must
contribute to the fullness of being a human being
- Condemnation of injustice is part of the Church’s
prophetic role, but the Church puts primacy at
proclamation over condemnation
The Hundreth
Year Pope John Paul II

May 1, 1991

CENTISSIMUS
ANNUS
• Written during the last days of the Cold War
• Berlin Wall had just Collapsed
• arms expenditure globally around $1 trillion
• Decolonization of developing nations after WWII is
impeded by foreign economic and political control and
the lack of a competent professional class
• the emergence of the super rich individuals.

- The excesses of Capitalism must be condemned,

as well as the ‘idolatry of the market’ and the
‘insanity of the arms race’.
- for the first time the world’s goods (including
intellectual property) are stated as having a
‘universal destination’.
The Gospel
of Life Pope John Paul II

March 25, 1995

EVANGELIUM
VITAE • Prevalence of the “Culture of Death”
especially with the wide practice of death
penalty, contraception, sterilization
abortion and euthanasia.

- The need to promote of a ‘culture of life’ where

human freedom finds its authentic meaning
- Even as times have changed, murder,
contraception, sterilization, abortion and
euthanasia remain intrinsically evil
- Death penalty is only acceptable of bloodless
means are insufficient to protect human lives
from an aggressor.
- The family is the ‘sanctuary of life’.
Charity in
Truth Pope Benedict XVI

June 29, 2009

CARITAS
IN VERITATE • 40 years since “Populorum Progressio”
• Globalization has become the main feature of the
current age
• The global banking crisis of 2008
• More evidences of environmental degradation
• Food shortage in underdeveloped countries

- The chief causes of enduring poverty are not

material in nature, but lie in failures of the will
and "the lack of brotherhood among individuals
and peoples“
- Calls for an "economy of gratuitousness and
fraternity“ operating on the logic of gift
- the development of peoples depend above all on
a recognition that the human race is a single
family
The Joy of the
Gospel Pope Francis

November 24, 2013

EVANGELII
GAUDIUM • A Latin-American Pope had just been elected to
office, upon him falls the closing of the “Year of
Apostolic Exhortation Faith” declared by his predecessor
• Francis is critical of the over-centralization of
church bureaucracy, unthinking preaching, and
excessive emphasis on doctrine.

- Warns against consumerism, the “throw-way”

culture and the economy of exclusion and
inequality
- “We have to state, without mincing words, that
there is an inseparable bond between our faith
and the poor. May we never abandon them.”
On Care for our
Common Pope Francis
Home
May 24, 2015

LAUDATO
SI •
• The alarming reality of climate change and
environmental degradation
Prevalence of the “modern myth” of unlimited material
progress at the expense of the poor and the
environment
• Scientific and technological progress does not seem to
translate to ethical and spiritual growth

- Throughout the document, the fate of the poor and the

planet are repeatedly linked.
- “The emptier a person’s heart is, the more he or she
needs things to buy, own and consume”
- Use technology with responsibility
- Politicians must be courageous enough to take
decisions that might outlast their government, because
the political solutions related to climate change and
environmental protection take time.